One of The Greatest Speeches Ever by President Obama | Best Eye Opening Speech

I am so proud of each and every one of you we are here today because every single one of you stood tall and said yes we can yes we can learn yes we can succeed you decided you would not be defined by where you come from but but by where you want to go by what you want to achieve by the dreams you hope to fulfill for We Gather here tonight in times when the very foundations of Our Lives the old order has been shaken the old ideas and institutions have crumbled and a new generation

is called upon to remake the world and let me be clear when I say young I'm not just referring to the date of your birth certificate I'm talking about an approach to life a quality of mind and a quality of heart we need people like you to step up we need your daring we need your enthusiasm we need your energy we need your imagination a willingness to follow your passions regardless of whether they lead to fortune and fame a willingness to question conventional wisdom and rethink old dogmas a lack of regard for all the traditional

markers of status and prestige and in a commitment instead to doing what's meaningful to you what helps others what makes a difference in this world we're engaged in two Wars and a struggle against terrorism the threats of climate change nuclear proliferation and pandemic defy National boundaries and easy solutions for many of you these challenges are also felt in more personal concerns perhaps you're still looking for a job you're struggling to figure out what career path makes sense now in the face of these challenges it may be tempting to fall back on the formulas for Success

that have been pedal so frequently in recent years it goes something like this we too often let the external the material things serve as indicators that we're doing well even though something inside us tells us that we're not doing our best that we're avoiding that which is hard but also necessary that that we're shrinking from rather than rising to the challenges of the age and the thing is in this new hyper competitive age none of us none of us can afford to be complacent that's true whatever profession you choose professors might earn the distinction of

tenure but that doesn't guarantee that they'll keep putting in the long hours and late nights and have the passion and the drive to be great Educators the same principle is true in your personal life being a parent is not just a matter of paying the bills doing the bare minimum it's not just bringing a child in the world that matters but the acts of love and sacrifice it takes to raise and educate that child and give them opportunity I'm standing here as president because the education that I [Music] received I know it's not always easy

to do well in school I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now I get it I know what it's like my father left my family when I was 2 years old and I was raised by a single mom who had to work and who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us the things that other kids had there were times when I missed having a father in my life there were times when I was lonely and I felt like I didn't fit in so I

wasn't always as focused as I should have been on school and I did some things that I'm not proud of and I got in more trouble than I should have and my life could have easily taken a turn for the worst but my mother my grandparents they pushed me to excel but I was I was lucky I got a lot of Second Chances and I had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my dreams you can't let the past get you down you have to let it motivate you everybody here has

got a unique story like that to tell each of you knows what it took for you to get here but in reaching this Milestone there's a common lesson shared by every graduate in this Hall it's not where you are or what you are it's who you are because life will throw some things at you truth is not a single one of the graduates here today has had as easy not a single one of you had anything handed to you on a silver platter you had to work for it you had to earn it most of

all you had to believe in yourselves yes you've always been underdogs nobody's handed you a thing but that also means that whatever you accomplish in your life you will have earned it whatever rewards and joys you reap you'll appreciate them that much more because they will have come through your own Sweat and Tears products of your own effort and your own talents you've shown more grit and determination in your childhoods than a lot of adults ever will that's who you are we need everyone to broaden their ideas about what is possible we need parents politicians

and the media to see how success is possible how success is happening every day so that's why I came here today because if success can happen here you have everything you need to get started you've got no excuses you have no excuses not to change the world did you study business go start a company or why not help a struggling non for-profit find better more effective ways to serve folks in need you study nursing go underst staff clinics and hospitals across this country are desperate for your Heth you study education teach in a high need

school where the kids really need you give a chance to kids who can't who can't get everything they need maybe in their neighborhood maybe not even in their home but we can't afford to give up on them prepare them to compete for any job anywhere in the world you study engineering help us lead a Green Revolution developing new sources of clean energy that will power our economy and preserve our planet find somebody to be successful for raise their hopes rise to their needs that's what's made a difference in our lives and it's going to make

an even greater difference in your lives not just for your own success because we live in a new world now the Hard Road does not end here your journey has just begun it won't protect you against every setback or challenge or mistake you'll make some I promise you're going to have to keep working hard you're going to have to keep pushing yourselves and you'll find El sometime in situations where folks have had an easier time they're a little bit ahead of you and you're going to have to work harder than there and you may be

frustrated by that you may have setbacks and you may have failures but you're not done you're not even getting started and if you ever forget that just look to history Colonel Sanders didn't open up his first Kentucky Fried Chicken till he was in the 60s Winston Churchill was dismissed as little more than it has been who enjoyed Scotch a little bit too much before he took over as prime minister and saw Great Britain through its finest hour when you read a great story or you learn about an important moment in history it helps you imagine

what it would be like to walk in somebody else's shoes to know their struggles each of them at one point in their life didn't have any title or much status to speak of but they had passion a commitment to following that passion wherever it would lead and to working hard every step along the way but if you do push yourselves if you build on what you've already accomplished here then I couldn't be more confident about your futures I'm hopeful and I'm excited about what all of you can achieve and I know that armed with the

skills and experience and love that you've gained you're ready to make your mark on the world so thank you thanks for inspiring me I know starting your careers in troubled times is a challenge but it is also a privilege because it's moments like these that Force us to try harder and dig deeper and to discover gifts we never knew we had to find the greatness that lies within each of us so don't ever shy away from that endeavor I can promise that you will be the better for that continued effort congratulations God bless you